Crash Bandicoot: The Other Side
by bunnyloverforever
Summary: Crash winds up getting severely injured after pulling weeds from Crunch's garden. N. Gin appears and kidnaps Crash easily, bringing him back to Cortex's lair to implement their new evil plot for world domination. There's just one problem... CrashxCortex.
1. Weeds

Bunnyloverforever: Hey, my first Crash Bandicoot fan fiction. The pairing is Crash x Cortex. If you don't like it, then don't comment. When I saw that I couldn't find any such pairings, my sister and I had to make one. The time of this fiction takes place after the game Mind over Mutant. CRASH HAS THE **LOOK** OF _CRASH OF THE TITANS_! I gladly accept critique through private messages and reviews. Thank you for taking time to read this.

Chapter 1: Weeds

"Hey, Crash, little bro, mind pulling out them weeds for me in the back? They're starting to bother me, you know, like how an itch goes un-itched? How - never mind, can you just do it?" Crunch ordered while lifting an inhumane amount of weights at the same time.

Crash was amused, but wondered why Crunch rarely helped around when he could do more than lift weights all day long, or bake delicious treats, and teach valuable moral lessons. Nodding and without annunciating any real words or evincing tenacious behavior, Crash turned on his heels and ran out the door with a content smile. To his misfortune, there were many weeds nestled between the vegetables and other various plants they - _Crunch_ gardened. It was all the more reason why he should be taking care of the task. Without thinking any more of it, Crash bent over and started pulling out the weeds that would begin to slowly malnourish the rest of the plant life if left unattended. No more delicious treats for months to come if such a thing were to happen! Coco would be put in an unpleasant mood for the destruction and Aku Aku would be utterly disappointed in him. He could continuously fight evil, save his siblings, and the world, yet he couldn't pull out weeds to keep the vegetation hearty?

There's no telling what Crunch would do to him. Crash did not want to think of it.

Now down on his knees, he overlooked the garden and sighed silently through his fake smile. Within the next twenty minutes, he was working well into his third pile of weeds. His hands paid the punishment of the unforgiving weeds. While working his fingers to the bone, he saw great improvement with the appearance of the garden. It looked approachable and less repulsive than it did before. Crash felt his hands flashing with an incessant burning sensation. He winced involuntarily each time he felt the strong burst of pain travel from the tips of his fingers to his wrists. Crash glanced quickly at his hands and saw nothing particularly wrong with them. He saw that he was almost done. Adrenaline pumped through his veins.

He skipped happily over to the last pieces of weed in the garden. With a few good pulls and yanks, the weeds popped out of the soil. Though, Crash knew he was making it look a lot easier than it really was. When he made his way back to his three neat piles, he prided himself. A few moments later when he had _just_ sat down to rest his burning hands; he spotted another small patch of weeds near the roots of an old tree that looked as though it had been around since the beginning of time. It engrossed most of the backyard and provided adequate shading for the bandicoots.

Huffing out of annoyance, Crash dragged himself up to his feet. When he finally reached the weeds, Crash noticed that he'd never seen these kinds of weeds before. As he squinted, he found red spikes, like a small salient protruding from the yellowish body of the weed. If he was discovering new types of weeds, then they were amiss to be growing in their garden.

As he looked around, he realized that this was the last patch of weed left. Thankful to the gods above and possibly Aku Aku, he confused his already pained hands with the new pain of the curious red spikes. He progressed on. Weeds didn't pull themselves! As he gripped the weeds and pulled up, he suddenly felt the thorns cling and rip through his skin. Yelping, he recognized the newfound pain making its way through his hands and arms. He jumped back, clearly startled and baffled by the unfamiliar weed. Crash turned around to run back to the house where one of his siblings or Aku Aku could give him the proper succor. Then he would ask about the strange looking bush of weeds near the tree.

His aid was put off by another stroke of misfortune hitting him as if he had broken a mirror that day by simply looking at it. Crash's left foot was captured under the thick root of the ancient tree, causing him to trip. Pain lanced through his left leg as soon as it made contact with the uncaring root. Thinking fast, Crash knew that the thorns in his hands would be near impossible to take out without plucking through his fur and skin if he stopped himself by landing on them. The second wave of pain lanced up his left leg once more when turned his torso to the right to fall on his shoulder, soundly cracking his foot once more.

His yells of unknowingly, self-inflicted pain decreased to mere whimpers when he landed on his shoulder. Wallowing in self-pity, he laid there for a few moments, taking in all the pain. Only when he heard a strange voice resonating just a few yards in front of him did he force himself to sit up. Though he was completely vulnerable, he had to be alert for when the villains announced their methods for world domination. Crash's hands twitched painfully with what felt like a gnawing pain all over his palms and fingers from the thorns. He had pulled his foot from under the tree which he vowed to crazily saw down as soon as he recovered. His entire left foot was awkwardly facing the left direction instead of pointing up, correctly. He hadn't taken his left foot with him when he jerked his body leftwards. It looked as horrible as it felt. The sharp pain continuously lanced up his leg relentlessly.

After he noted the degree of his injuries, he looked ahead to see a short, stubby body forming before him from what looked to be a black portal with purple swirls. If a plastic stick was projecting out of it, it could have been mistaken for a lollipop instead of an outlandish portal. When he recognized the metal salient clearly sticking out of this person's head, he mentally matched up the body type and face with a name.

"N. Gin?" Crash just barely pronounced, perplexed. His expression of confusion was distorted by the pain his body was enduring at the moment.

Seconds passed until the body was fully formed to reveal the questionably homosexual sidekick of the greatly, notorious Cortex. Crash's pupils and iris dilated significantly. He was in the worst possible state, and for N. Gin, it was the best possible timing on behalf of his unpredicted misfortune. He really should have told Aku Aku that he was interested in hearing a story etched in his memory from centuries ago instead of standing idly, observing Crunch which led to the incidents in the garden.

N. Gin cocked his head from the reaction he got out of Crash. He was also surprised that as soon as he stepped out of the portal, he found his target, Crash, sitting before him, trembling in fear. A rehearsed, evil laughter erupted from his throat.

"Hah! At last! You _cower _in fear at the sight of me! I didn't even have to threaten you! This calls for a raise in my salary…" he paused in thought of the increase. "_Anyways_! It is now Cortex's _evil_ plan to permanently put you to sleep and work _against_ Aku Aku. Now that I have you at my _feet_, we'll be going back to Cortex's lair! Night night, _Bandicoot_!" N. Gin spoke with the usual crescendos and decrescendos in his speech including the occasional excrescence of volume to add intensity to the details of the evil plot. After he finished performing his evil laughter again, he pointed a ray gun at the bandicoot and pulled the trigger.

The level was set at the picture of a fainted person. As soon as the green beam hit Crash and embodied him in the lime-like bubble, he fell backwards, unconscious. Only when the green disappeared, N. Gin dared to step towards the faint bandicoot. He noticed the odd angle Crash's leg was pointing in.

"Man, now I'm no doctor, but I don't think that's how a _foot_ should be pointing," he said aloud. A thought occurred. Could Crash have not been intimidated by him at all? Was it merely his condition and his abrupt appearance that made him afraid? "_No_! I will not believe it! I _am evil_! I deserve my salary increase!" he exclaimed angrily.

N. Gin lugged Crash over his shoulder. He walked back into the portal he formed from with the bandicoot, successfully completing his mission. When he stepped back into it, the portal disappeared behind him without a trace.

"Hey, yo, Crash? What's all that racket outside? I heard screaming and then a questionably gay voice said something about getting a salary increase. Crash? Crash? Boy, haven't you had enough hide and seek?" Crunch yelled from the window. He made his way outside and found three piles of weeds.

"Crash! You did the work! Good job! I'll just pack them up and throw them away. No weeds are going to invade this garden, baby!"


	2. N Gin's Decrease

Bunnyloverforever: **I do not own anything pertaining to Crash Bandicoot. **Read and review!

Chapter 2: N. Gin's Decrease

"See? See? My love – err, _boss_! Yes, _boss_, I have brought the _Crash _Bandicoot back! Plus those injuries, it was _I_ who made them!" N. Gin explained proudly.

By now, Cortex had Crash, still unconscious, inside a five by five cage with his hands and feet tied up. Cocking up a brow at N. Gin during his short explication, Cortex gritted his teeth at the momentous error N. Gin had made that certainly corresponded with a salary _decrease_. Also, not all the evil in the world could lead him to believe that he put Crash in such a condition. He speculated that the opportunity fell in his sidekick's lap.

"N. Gin, how is Crash useful to us when his foot's broken in two places? And his hands look like… he was trying to pull out a thorn bush. Why would he do _that_?" he asked aloud.

"Of course, only your creations would attempt to perform such a foolish task," intruded a much envied voice. Gasps trailed the insult.

"Tropy! How the heck did _you_ get in here?" he queried, utterly baffled by his presence.

"Your security measures are beyond what others would merely call lame."

"Which means you've just destroyed each carefully constructed level of my security…?" After silently reading the answer on Tropy's face, Cortex lowered his head in defeat. He stared at their footwear.

N. Gin twiddled his thumbs, feeling bad. "Its okay, Master. I'll fix it up again," he offered apologetically.

Tropy cocked a brow at the innocuous interactions shown by the two. He rolled his eyes and moved the subject. "I did not advent to _just_ destroy your poorly assembled security system. I came for answers to my questions. What is it you are planning now, Cortex? How have you also managed to capture Crash Bandicoot without your laboratory exploding into smithereens of failure?"

"H-How could you have known?"

"N. Gin's Face Book told it all," he answered flatly.

Cortex spun around to face his inane sidekick. "_What_? N. Gin, how could you? It was all supposed to be top secret! Didn't you know that?"

N. Gin looked regretfully at the floor. "Well…"

"Perhaps you should try working alone, Doctor Cortex. It looks better on the resume." Tropy glowered at the scientist almost expectantly. He ambled on passed him towards the cage.

Cortex's heart flopped when he watched Tropy near the cage. He sprinted in front of Tropy to block his way. "What in the world are you planning to do with my creation?!" he demanded, feeling oddly protective.

"Now is not the time to build bridges, Cortex. Let me have your failure and turn it into a successor." Tropy continued to give Cortex dagger looks. He slanted his brows from his inward puzzlement. Why was Dr. Neo Cortex standing in _his_ path, with his arms outspreaded as if to protect this creation?

Cortex read the subtle confusion traced in his expression. In the corner of his eye, he even saw N. Gin visibly show his shock towards his actions. Suddenly, he felt the sharp pang of Tropy's harshly, straightforward words. _Failure_? Crash, a failure? It was true that was what he had thought of the bandicoot for a long time, but was it truly Crash who was the failure? And how could Tropy manage to turn the failure of a bandicoot, which had foiled each of their evil plots, into a successor? Either way Cortex examined his situation, with the high-mighty look embedded in Tropy's eyes, he could have been insulting him instead of Crash, hiding his caustic and sardonic intentions with his flat tone.

For a moment, they appeared to be staring each other down, neither one of them breaking the gaze or backing down, not even Cortex, even though his size was a questionable factor in any physical quarrel. Cortex felt his fingers twitch. They yearned to reach for his ray-gun in situations such as these. Though, over the years he suppressed the urge to simply blast his opponents away. There was no room for compromising, the bandicoot, his creation, his _failure_, was his, and only his. Visitation rights would have to be sent in the form of an impossible application! Or better yet, an exam!

"You are not going to have any access to my failure! Crash isn't a failure, if you're going to point fingers, point them at me! It's me that's been _failing_. So… shoo!" Cortex waved off Tropy without any shred of respect. He had no objective of Crash to share with Tropy aloud. He wished to keep Crash to himself for his own selfish reasons. He had to prove to himself that he wasn't a failure. That couldn't be accomplished if Tropy took his creation away from him.

Tropy scoffed at his defiance. "Cortex, I will have my way. I will come back for the bandicoot with Brio. There is no doubt that you are a failure, which is why we feel obligated to take this project into our own hands. Prepare yourself, Cortex," Tropy conveyed the warning fairly.

"If we give the bandicoot to _you_, do we get a _surprise_?" N. Gin piped into the conversation.

Tropy sighed heavily at the question. Ignoring it, he glared down at Cortex, shaking his head. "You need to seriously reconsider working alone." With that, Tropy disappeared with a thud of his scepter (or whatever that thing is).

Cortex then rested his own glare on N. Gin. "What were you thinking? _Surprise_? More like demolition to the _soul_! To come back to your earlier proposition of receiving a raise, this is what I have to say: _You don't even get paid_!" Cortex reminded his sidekick for the hundredth time that week. N. Gin's first reaction was dumb shock, which really reiterated to Cortex whether or not he should actually work alone, which was suggested to him twice by none other than Tropy, his rival.

"_Master_, why do you still have your arms _outspreaded_ like that?" N. Gin queried, tilting his head. He felt a deep jealousy stir within him. How could the Doctor Neo Cortex, out of the blue, want to protect Crash Bandicoot? Whenever Tropy came, he would be sure to aid his attempt in kidnapping the bandicoot. That meant rigging the security systems in a conniving way. After all, he was going to be making the repairs. Shouldn't he decide who has access in and out of the laboratory on the small island?

Cortex blushed for a split second. He jumped forward from his place and lowered his arms, finding N. Gin's question actually useful for a change instead of silly and idiotic. When he turned around on his heels, he was startled to find Crash's eyes half open and his ears perked up. Even though he looked miserable, he was alert. How long was he alert? Did N. Gin and Tropy not feel the need to point out that Crash was awake? Did Tropy suspect that he already knew? Did Crash feel mocked that he would want to remotely protect him? No, no, no. It was obviously the fact that Crash's foot was broken in two places, and his hands were useless.

"How long has he been awake?" Cortex, still flabbergasted, inquired of his sidekick.

"It was since _you_ turned your _back_ on him, Master," N. Gin replied with somewhat of a snide.

"And you had no intention in telling me? Don't answer that." Cortex decided to pardon his sidekick. There were greater matters than the exact time that Crash awoke. From what N. Gin had said, he still had no idea of what his evil plan consisted of. "What do you think we should do with him?" he asked.

"Poison him! Poison him! Poison him!" N. Gin hopped up and down, clicking his heels.

No intelligent feedback whatsoever.

"We _can't_, that wouldn't work with the diabolical plan. Look, just go back and fix up the security. The last thing I want is just anyone waltzing in here and taking the blueprints of our… _my_ brilliant plan!" Cortex carried on to performing his sinister laughter. After N. Gin praised him profoundly, his footsteps faded away. It was then that Cortex questioned himself. Besides evaluating the bandicoot and creating a way for him to use Uka Uka's bad mojo, he had to do something about that foot and the thorns in his hands.

Cortex's stomach sank at the thought of nurturing the bandicoot. He stood there in front of Crash's cage, staring at him in deep thought. Crash didn't return the stare. The bandicoot was much too busy trying to move his left foot like he could with his right foot, and quite frankly, he appeared perplexed and pained. Cortex felt an ounce of sympathy for his creation. The rest he pitied himself for having to make contact with him in order to fix his foot. There was no room for debate – he would _not_ allow anyone else to attempt to break his foot into place besides him. N. Gin was much too dimwitted and Nina was still in public school. He would not disrupt her studies.

Cortex realized that he held mixed feelings of just about everything. Though he hated Crash Bandicoot, he needed him well for his diabolical plan. There was no way that he would ever consent to giving Crash to Tropy. When he was put in a position that possibly his creation would be stolen from him, he immediately protected Crash.

_'I'm not growing feelings for this _animal_!' _Cortex was completely appalled at the thought._ 'I was simply acting on impulse. If Tropy were to take Crash, then my plan would be ruined. I wouldn't be able to take over the world. Surely, those two, Tropy and Brio, they'd never give me credit for his creation.'_

Wondering why it was taking him so long to act, he shook his head and sighed. He knelt down and unlocked the door to Crash's cage. Even if he would have left opened, there was no way Crash could make an escape. He was immobile for the time being. Useless. Worthless. Failure.

Crash, as predicted by the mad scientist, inched back hurriedly. Crash's eyes went wide, scared and confused all at the same time. He was sure that either Cortex would take him to get his foot amputated to be replaced by some other metal refinement.

"If you _don't_ hold still, it's going to hurt a _lot_ more than it already does. Does your vacuous mind concur? If you move, it's going to hurt." Cortex explained plainly. Now he had eye contact with the bandicoot. That was improvement from him cowering away earlier.

Crash looked back at him, an empty expression, but with wide, blinking eyes and a content smile.

Cortex knew that the bandicoot barely understood what he meant. Though, he knew enough to not be afraid of him anymore. Cortex just needed to get one more thing across to his mind before he did anything.

Slowly, he instructed, "Don't move. If you _don't_ _move_, it _won't_ _hurt_."

Crash looked up and around himself. When he returned to Cortex's gaze, he smiled with a nod. "No move! Wabadaba babadooo!" His actual words were followed by pure gibberish he formed in his mind.

Cortex sighed through his tight smile. Crash was happy about _something_. Cortex suspected that it was because he was told that nothing would hurt. What a lie that would turn out to be. "Here I go…" he whispered to himself. The scientist constantly reminded himself that he graduated at the top of his class in evil-medical school.

The ear-shattering yell and shriek was led after a soundly snap.

Cortex winced from only the fact that he had lied to easily to Crash. Perhaps he could have injected morphine into his system before he repaired his foot, but he had no idea how he would react to the drug. Cortex saw Crash biting his tongue as he endured the renewed, shocking pain coming from his foot.

"Uh, sorry, I sort of lied," he admitted.

The guilt could be easily found on his face. Crash would have seen it if he had looked up at him. Instead, the bandicoot continued to bite his tongue and stare down at his left foot, now facing the correct direction. It was then that Cortex saw the tears welling up and dampening his fur. That could have been part of the reason why Crash didn't acknowledge his pathetic apology. Cortex wasn't sure, this was all guesswork. It could have meant nothing.

"It's still broken," Cortex pointed out.

"Wabuuu?" Crash said quizzically.

Cortex had no idea how to reply. He did this much, could Crash's body heal the foot back to normal by itself? He was a mutant after all, but again, guesswork.

"Does it… feel _better_?" Cortex queried, doubtful.

Crash wiggled his toes inside his shoe, regaining feeling back in his foot. A smile formed on his face.

"I guess it does," he told himself. Cortex reached in his lab coat to pull out a pair of scissors. He wouldn't be able to tend to Crash's hands if they were tied behind his back. Of course, Cortex would take the appropriate precautions. With his other hand, he pulled out his ray-gun. He saw Crash's eyes broaden at the sight of the ray-gun. He struggled momentarily out of the ropes until he was shot.

Cortex set the dial on another setting before so. The bandicoot instantly felt dizzy when he received the shot. Whatever activity that was occurring in his mind was now squandered. He had no thoughts and couldn't feel a thing in his body. Though, he wasn't having an out-of-body experience, he simply felt nothing and thought nothing. He stared at Cortex blankly with no sentiment, only a watcher who could not move, and could barely think. The more he fought the effects, the dizzier he got.

"That should keep you from trying to move." Cortex smiled devilishly as he dragged Crash out his cage by his feet after he cut the ropes.

Eventually he was able to place Crash in a sitting position on one of N. Gin's leather chairs. Cortex then ran over to his side of the lab and searched for a pair of tweezers hastily. When he found a pair, he jumped in his own chair and wheeled over to Crash. He placed Crash's hand, palm up, on his arm rest and began working on the visible thorns, plucking them out while trying to remove the least amount of hairs. About twenty minutes into the procedure, the effects of the ray-gun wore off. Cortex didn't take notice. He was actually focused on the thorns so much that he didn't observe Crash's fingers twitching out of stinging pain.

Crash idly cocked his head from left to right, finding himself quite bored. He kicked up his feet occasionally much like a toddler. The pain in his left foot was enough for him to endure. He recognized that Cortex was pulling the painful thorns from his palm, so he didn't interrupt. As he remembered Cortex saying earlier, "don't move and it won't hurt."

"Wabuuuu!" Crash suddenly yelled, pulling Cortex from his deep concentration.

Cortex almost jumped out of his chair from the exclamation. His heart leapt out in shock. Again, how long was Crash alert? Cortex didn't bother asking the question since all he'd get would be a blank look and indecipherable gibberish.

"You were awake? Uh, how's your foot?" Cortex immediately tried to make polite conversation. After all, he had just carelessly shot Crash before deciding to work on his palms. Though, Crash seemed more thankful that his foot was better.

"Halbabloo baa!" Crash lifted his left leg up and down. He wiggled his toes, but he still felt too much pain to actually move his foot in any direction.

Cortex blinked. "I think it'll heal correctly. I'm working on your palms as you can see. It won't take much longer… just try not to _distract_ me anymore." Cortex felt odd that Crash hadn't tried to break his own arm when he regained control over his body. The bandicoot seemed to trust him this much.

After another twenty minutes, Cortex bandaged Crash's palms and some of his fingers. Cortex experienced a pinch of accomplishment. He saw Crash's face light up when he took back his hands and looked at them. It made Cortex crack a smile. He shook off the good emotions, feeling repulsed.

Cortex stood up and began to make his way back to his super computers and the ray-gun he left behind. He felt nervous when footsteps approached from behind him. When he turned around to brace himself, Crash jumped in his arms with a big, toothy smile on his face and laughed jovially. Cortex tried to loosen his features to become somewhat happy, but found it much more difficult than Crash openly did. It was then that Crash stood on his feet and playfully hugged Doctor Cortex. It was a display of affection that Cortex would rarely ever share with Nina. The most Cortex could do was pat Crash on the back in return. He was unable to fully wrap his arms around his creation. Cortex's toothy, forced smile was glued on to his face.

"What _is_ this?!" Screamed a voice. A tool box dropped to the floor, producing a clanging noise.


End file.
